Family of driver in Orland bus crash says survivors hailing her as hero

The woman driving the tour bus full of Southern California prospective college students when it collided with a FedEx tractor-trailer truck April 10 may have died a hero — intentionally steering the bus so the freight truck would hit her, her family said. Talalalei Lealai-Taiao, a Sacramento resident, was one of two drivers killed in the fiery crash, caused when the truck crossed a 58-foot median and struck the bus on Interstate 5 near rural Orland. Five students and three adult chaperons accompanying the kids on a trip to Humboldt State University were also killed. Lealai-Taiao’s son and daughter told Sacramento television station KXTV on Friday night that their mother was the best bus driver in the world and had driven their school bus when they were small. Survivors have told them “that if it wasn’t for my mom, they wouldn’t be here,” Jordayna Lealai-Taiao told the TV station. Witnesses said the woman braked hard and turned to the right, taking the full impact of the oncoming FedEx dual trailer and truck on the bus’s left side. “They did express to us that my mom was a hero,” she said. Her brother, Jordan, agreed. “From what it looks like in the investigation that’s going on, and from what we see and hear, my mom brought that impact to her side” of the bus, he told KXTV.

Five students were killed in the crash: Denise Gomez and Ismael Jimenez, from Animo Charter High School in Inglewood; Jennifer Bonilla from Los Angeles Dorsey High School; Adrian Castro from El Monte High School; and Marisa Serrato from Norte Vista High School in Riverside. Four other adults were killed in the crash, in addition to Lealai-Taiao. They were chaperons Arthur Arzola from Ontario and Michael Myvett, Myvett fiancee Mattison Haywood, and the FedEx truck driver, Tim Evans.

Nearly all of those killed were in the front of the bus, and several were ejected on impact. The collision sparked a massive explosion and fire. Survivors described a chaotic scene as students rushed to kick in windows to escape the spreading flames. Thirty-five were hospitalized for injuries, including broken bones, cuts and burns from the fire.

The students were part of a three-bus caravan taking them to Humboldt State as part of a Preview Plus weekend, to explore the university before deciding if they would attend in the fall. Federal and state investigators said the bus driver braked hard and steered to the right as the truck appeared. No skid marks or other sort of indications of braking were left by the Volvo tractor or its twin set of FedEx trailers, the California Highway Patrol and the National Transportation Safety Board have said. The veteran bus driver had won honors for her driving record and had been selected to drive the Jamaican bobsled team during the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Lealai-Taiao had taken over driving the bus at Sacramento, taking about 45 passengers from Los Angeles to Humboldt State, near Eureka in the very northwest corner of the state, about halfway through the 17-hour drive from Los Angeles Union Station.